Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 254
Series: With Me #1
Review Source: eBook from author for review
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
Ashton Summers is on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school and nothing—or no one—is going to stand in her way. Especially not Luca Byron, her freak neighbor, with his tattoos, loud music, and distracting green eyes.
Luca Byron has three goals in life: get through high school with a low profile, make sure his garage band becomes something more than a hobby, and try to forget about his insufferable ex-best friend, Ashton, who he can’t get out of his mind.
The last thing Ashton and Luca want to do is rekindle their friendship, but when Ashton takes a tumble down the social ladder, Luca—with his new makeover—is the only one who can help her rise up again by pretending to be her boyfriend. At first, being together is unbearable and annoying, but things start to change as Ashton and Luca discover the real reasons they drifted apart seven years ago.
Now, keeping their hands off each other seems impossible.
My Thoughts:
I wanted so much to like this book, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. Ashton, the female main character, was incredibly unlikeable. She was hard to relate to because she starts off the book treating people very badly with absolutely no reason to do so. I can deal with unlikable characters if there is a realistic plot arc of them realizing the error of their ways, but I never really felt like Ashton cared that much - or even realized - the true damage of how she had been acting. She has a mini-breakthrough and then steps right back into wanting popularity and wanting to be friends with a person who betrayed her. Ashton seems to think saying you’re sorry is a good enough exchange for years of terrible behaviour. I just couldn’t relate to her at all because of the lack of repentance.
Luca, on the other hand, was a character who I could relate to. He was generally a nice guy who cared about his friends, and about Ashton, despite how she had treated him. If anything I felt like Luca deserved better than Ashton, though I could understand how he liked her because of their years of history together.
I really love the idea of former best friends coming together romantically, but I wish there had been a real connection between the two characters instead of a relationship mostly based upon lust. I can enjoy books where relationships start off based on physical attraction when that attraction is coupled with fun and flirty behaviour. What I saw here was two people being rude to each other all the time and then manically breaking out into makeout sessions every so often. I loved the idea of ‘Impossible’, and while some will definitely enjoy it, it definitely wasn’t the book for me.
The Cover:
I really like it; it's what drew me to the book in the first place.
Rating:
[1.5/5]Find Impossible by Komal Lewis on Goodreads, Amazon (Kindle & paperback), Smashwords (all e-formats), & Createspace (Paperback).
It almost reminds me of that movie with Melissa Joan Hart? Drive Me Crazy? The couple faked a romance to maintain popular status or something and then fell for each other?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a big fan of the movie and I doubt I'd be a fan of this book based on your review. Thanks for being honest!
Gotta be honest, right? Sometimes I hate it (especially when I get the book directly from an indie author), but I could never lie about how I felt. I wouldn't feel honest if I exaggerated my feelings just because of that reason.
DeleteI'm sorry you didn't click better with Ashton, the not liking the lead woman always ruins a book for me too. I kind of covet the dress in the cover though!! even if the guy looks a little too bowlegged :P
ReplyDeleteLOL oh, the things I think about-
Hopefully your next read will be better.
haha I love how you managed to notice that =b
DeleteOH NOES!! That really sucks. It sounded really cute but if the character starts out and remains unlikeable then I'm not on board.
ReplyDeleteYes, I just can't take it when a lead character is unlikeable the whole way through
DeleteAshton was my main issue with this one, too, Ashley! I did feel like she was different by the end of the book, but it didn't feel like there was any point in the book where an actual change was shown to me...it was like suddenly she was nice. I liked Luca, but I'll admit all his pervy thoughts made me not like him as much. Yes, I'm sure guys really think that, but I'd rather not know...I would've preferred so much had this book been in 3rd person so that we wouldn't have gotten all of Ashton's nasty thoughts and Luca's pervy ones. :P
ReplyDeleteI did like the happy ending in this one though, even though Luca never actually apologized to Ash, and Ashton's change wasn't that well developed, but I did like the happy feelings it gave me in the end.
Still...I really wish Komal Lewis had actually covered the topic of bullying in the book, it would have made it so much less superficial, and she could have used it to show a realistic shift in Ashton's behaviour. Also, the whole thing with Oliver could've been handled better, too. She should've done something...just leaving it so that the guy has no repercussions, that's how guys end up attacking people again. Hopefully her next book will cover things like that better.
Thanks for sharing your review, Ashley! I saw on Goodreads that you'd read it, and I'd been hoping to see your review. :)
Glad you had some similar feelings on this one, Ambur, that I wasn't the only one. Agreed, there were some big issues there that should have been addressed -- not in a preachy way, but just in actually being acknowledged.
DeleteWow, I just read TWO negative reviews on this book. I never even heard of it, but it's surely not going to be anything I read now. I mean, if the main character is so unlikable, the book isn't going to be so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Ashley!
Ack, it's too bad. I wish it had worked for me, but there was just too much to keep me from enjoying it.
Delete